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The association between cyberbullying and nonsuicidal self-injury: the mediating role of depression and anxiety Cover

The association between cyberbullying and nonsuicidal self-injury: the mediating role of depression and anxiety

Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology
Volume 13 (2025): Issue 1 (January 2025)
By: ,  ,  ,  ,  ,   and    
Open Access
|Dec 2025
Figures & tables

Figures & Tables

TABLE 1.

The main results of previous articles about the relationship between CB and SIB

ArticleResearch typePopulationMain results
Hay & Meldrum (2010) (38)Cross-sectional

  • N= 426

  • age: 10–21 years (M=15 years, SD=2.18)

  • - Significant negative association between SIB and cybervictimization

  • - The association is mediated by negative emotions

Schneider et al. (2012) (17)Cross-sectional

  • N=20,268

  • 9–11 grades

  • 50.4% female

  • - CB was associated with increased depressive symptoms, psychological distress, and SIB

  • - Of the adolescents who were victims of CB only, 24% reported SIB and 33.9% reported depressive symptoms

  • - When the adolescents engaged in both types of bullying (traditional and cyber), the rates were 37.8% and 47% respectively

Elgar et al. (2014) (18)Cross-sectional

  • N=18,834

  • age: 12–18 years 50.7% female

  • - Cybervictimization is negatively associated with SIB (OR=3.49)

  • - Moderating role of family contact

Thomas et al. (2017) (40)Cross-sectional

  • N=2,967

  • M=14.6 years 48.4% female

1.1% comorbidity between CB victims and NSSI, and 9.9% between cyberbullies and NSSI among adolescents
Fridh et al. (2019) (30)Cross-sectional

  • N=6,841

  • age:14–21 years 66.7% female

Significant association between SIB and CB among students who involved in any mental distress in the last 12 months
Nguyen et al. (2020) (28)Cross-sectional

  • N=648

  • M=11 years 47.7% female

CB was significantly associated with SIB among adolescents
Eyuboglu et al (2021) (29)Cross-sectional

  • N=6,202

  • 11–18-year-olds (M=14.4 years, SD=1.9)

  • 46.1% female

Significant increasing of SIB among adolescents who involved in CB – among only victims, only perpetrators and both as well
Faura-Garcia et al. (2021) (31)Cross-sectional

  • N=760

  • 12–17-year-olds (M=15.58 years, SD=1)

  • - Significant higher frequency of NSSI among CB victims

  • - The correlation was partly moderated by higher scores on dysfunctional cognitive patterns and depressive symptoms

John et al. (2022) (27)Longitudinal

  • N=6,677

  • 11–16-year-olds 48.4% female

The prevalence of SIB was significantly higher both in the only traditional and in the only cyberbullying groups, than the nonbullied group, and the highest was among both traditional and CB group
FIGURE 1.

Association between NSSI, mental disorders (i.e., anxiety, depression), and CB (victim, bully, and witness groups).

Note: Anxiety = anxiety disorders (according to MINI diagnosis), Depression = depressive disorders (according to MINI diagnosis), NSSI = nonsuicidal self-injury, bully = CB perpetrators, victim = CB victims, witness = CB witnesses.

TABLE 2.

The proportion of the five CB groups.

No NSSINSSI
Not involved2422
Bully01
Victim516
Bully & victim515
Witness1120

[i] Meaning of acronyms: Bully = involved in CB as a perpetrator, Victim = involved in CB as a victim; Bully & victim = involved in CB both as a perpetrator and as a victim; Witness = involved in CB as a witness.

[ii] While 53.33% of the no NSSI group was not involved in CB, this proportion was 29.73% for the NSSI group. At the same time, both victims and victims/bullies of CB accounted for 11.11% of the non-NSSI group; these proportions were 21.62% and 20.27% respectively for the NSSI group.

FIGURE 2.

Association between NSSI, mental disorders (i.e., anxiety, depression), and cybervictimization.

Note: OnlyVictim = CB victims, BullyVictim = both CB victims and bullies, Witness = CB witnesses, Anxiety = anxiety disorders (according to MINI diagnosis), Depression = depressive disorders (according to MINI diagnosis), NSSI = non-suicidal self-injury.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjcapp-2025-0013 | Journal eISSN: 2245-8875
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Language: English
Page range: 139 - 150
Published on: Dec 10, 2025
Published by: Center for Evidence-based Psychiatry
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year
Keywords:
Nonsuicidal Self-Injury,
NSSI,
Cyberbullying,
Adolescence,
Depression,
Anxiety
Related subjects:
Medicine,
Basic medical science,
Basic medical science, other

© 2025 Bernadett Frida Farkas, Dóra Győri, Dániel Komáromy, Péter Garas, Nóra Kollárovics, Lili Olga Horváth, Judit Balázs, published by Center for Evidence-based Psychiatry
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

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